Baseball bait and switch

Published: Thursday, November 15, 2012 at 08:00 AM.

Loria’s response has been to gut the team of talent. He began jettisoning players during the disappointing season, and on Tuesday he held a virtual fire sale, trading five players, including three stars, whose contracts are worth more than $160 million to Toronto for the equivalent of some baseball cards and sticks of gum.

Fans can justifiably complain about a bait and switch. However, that’s not a fit of pique by Loria, but a smart business move. By slashing the team’s payroll to a threadbare $34 million — the lowest in the major leagues — he will reap healthy profits when the Marlins receive close to $100 million in shared revenues from Major League Baseball.

So even when attendance drops in response to an uncompetitive team, Loria is sure to be raking in the bucks thanks to baseball socialism. He wins financially even if his team loses on the field.

What’s the incentive to succeed?

Local government didn’t bother to include in its stadium contract with Loria a clause that might force him to make good-faith efforts to field competitive teams. Don’t blame the owner for taking advantage of a system rigged heavily in his favor. Change the system — starting at the local level by not allowing governments to play fantasy sports with public dollars by subsidizing billionaire team owners.

Miami-Dade officials foolishly believed the fallacy that a new stadium would be an “economic engine” for the area. Studies (tinyurl.com/cpvanub) show that almost never happens, particularly when nobody shows up to watch a bunch of minor leaguers play in a major league stadium.

We’ll leave it to baseball experts to determine who won Tuesday’s mega-trade between the Miami Marlins and the Toronto Blue Jays.

It’s obvious, though, who the losers are: South Florida taxpayers.

Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria wheeled and dealed, cajoled and threatened Miami-Dade public officials before convincing them to fork over $509 million — 80 percent of the costs — to build the team a brand-new stadium, which opened in March. (By the time the debt service is paid off, the facility will have cost $2.4 billion.)

This is what the Marlins needed to compete financially and win a championship, Loria said. Without the new stadium, well, he might just have to move the team to another city.

That’s a tired refrain numerous professional sports teams have used over the years to get what they want. And it usually works.

Sure enough, Miami-Dade government defied public opposition to the deal and committed an outrageous amount of tax dollars to a private business, one owned by a man who had the financial means to cover most of the costs himself. The way it is structured, Loria receives almost all the benefits and assumes minimal risk.

To kick off the new stadium in style, Loria went on a spending spree last offseason, shelling out more than $100 million to sign several star free agents. The Marlins, though, finished 69-93, in last place in the National League’s East Division.

Loria’s response has been to gut the team of talent. He began jettisoning players during the disappointing season, and on Tuesday he held a virtual fire sale, trading five players, including three stars, whose contracts are worth more than $160 million to Toronto for the equivalent of some baseball cards and sticks of gum.

Fans can justifiably complain about a bait and switch. However, that’s not a fit of pique by Loria, but a smart business move. By slashing the team’s payroll to a threadbare $34 million — the lowest in the major leagues — he will reap healthy profits when the Marlins receive close to $100 million in shared revenues from Major League Baseball.

So even when attendance drops in response to an uncompetitive team, Loria is sure to be raking in the bucks thanks to baseball socialism. He wins financially even if his team loses on the field.

What’s the incentive to succeed?

Local government didn’t bother to include in its stadium contract with Loria a clause that might force him to make good-faith efforts to field competitive teams. Don’t blame the owner for taking advantage of a system rigged heavily in his favor. Change the system — starting at the local level by not allowing governments to play fantasy sports with public dollars by subsidizing billionaire team owners.

Miami-Dade officials foolishly believed the fallacy that a new stadium would be an “economic engine” for the area. Studies (tinyurl.com/cpvanub) show that almost never happens, particularly when nobody shows up to watch a bunch of minor leaguers play in a major league stadium.

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